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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Chipotle-Corn Mashed Potatoes...

Before we left for Disney, we made these Chipotle-Corn Mashed Potatoes as a side to dinner one night, but I just never found the time to get them posted! Better late than never - right?

Shucked ears of corn, rubbed lightly with a bit of oil, were set over the grates on the grill and left to cook, turned often of course, until most of the kernels had taken on a light golden hue with a few scattered dark spots for the most flavor. Removed and set aside to cool until I could hold them (without dancing around because they were still too hot - oops!), we sliced the kernels off and set them aside to be used in a bit.

While that was off working, chunks of russet potatoes were placed in one of our largest pots and covered with enough water that all of them were submerged. You do want to season the water at this point - I don't measure when adding it to potato (or pasta) cooking water, but you don't want to be skimpy... a few healthy pinches is usually enough. When they had come to a fierce bubble and cooked through until tender, we drained away the water, but put the potatoes right back into the empty pot. We do this, with the pot set of low heat, to evaporate any of the excess liquids hiding with the potatoes so they end up fluffy and light.

While that is one tip we always use when doing mashed potatoes, another one we follow is heating the milk and butter a bit before tossing them in. If you use cold milk and cold butter, they will eventually warm up and melt into the mix, but then you'll be left with cold potatoes. We've just found that warming them first helps the whole mix blend well and stay warm. We leave the skins on for the nutritional boost, and frankly, we just like them, but it is best if you then just mash them with a potato masher and keep them a little coarse. If you prefer your potatoes to be silky smooth, you'll want the peels off and use a potato ricer or mixer to whip them together.

When they are at the texture you like, the roasted corn is folded in, along with minced chipotle chiles and a little of the adobo sauce they are canned with. 2 chiles were just right for us, giving us the heat we crave, without making us sweat, but a single chile or even just some of the adobo sauce would be good for the smoky edge without the bite. Made as is, we got a generous 10 servings - way too much for us, but we froze a few servings and found they reheated up quite well! Unless you're serving a crowd, or love leftovers like we do, this recipe is one that would work just as well using half the amounts to pare it down.

If you're a person who never let their corn touch the mashed potatoes on their plate, then this might not be for you... but if you swirled them together, don't let this pass you by! Well, even if you like your foods separate (Jeff and I both used to do that growing up), you may want to give this a try anyway - you just might surprise yourself! Depending on where you are, you might be out of luck to find good, fresh corn in your market. If that happens, you could trying using thawed frozen corn kernels - try spreading them out on a sheet pan and placing them under the broiler to give them a bit of color for a similar (but not quite as exciting) taste.